Wind instrument



Aug. 29, 1933. 'v g o 1,924,399

WIND INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. 28, 1933 Patented Aug. 29, 1933 UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE WIND INSTRUMENT Vincent Fiorino, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 28, 1933. Serial No. 658,890

12 Claims. (Cl. 84-388) The invention relates to musical instruments and more particularly to instruments of the trumpet type.

It is an object of the invention to provide a wind instrument of the bass type in which a slide is provided so that a full set of harmonics may be provided from any of the various positions of the slide with precise intonation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a melodic bass instrument.

' It isalso an object of the invention to provide a bass instrument provided with a slide to obtain precise intonation, characteristic tones and melodious execution, whereby the utility of the instrument is greatly enhanced.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a tuba with a slide so that melodious execution and perfect intonation may be obtained by means of the slide, whereas fast execution of passages may be obtained with the valves.

A still further object aims at providing a tuba with a slide and switch means for enabling alternate use of the valves or of the slide depending on whether fast execution of passages or melodic rendition is desired.

A still further object or" the invention aims at providing a slide for bass instruments, the length of which slide may be increased so that the distances of the various slide positions are lessened without, however, varying the pitch of the instrument.

It is also an object of the invention to provide certain details of construction and arrangement tending to enhance the utility and effectiveness of an instrument of the character described.

With these and other equally important objects in view which will become apparent from a perusal of the invention, the latter comprises the means described in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the claims forming a part thereof, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tubaconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section through the switch valve and the selector valve, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modification. a

The tuba includes a mouthpiece 10 at the end of a pipe 11 which leads to a switch valve 12. From the valve air passes through a tube 13 to a plurality of piston valves 14, 15 and 16 and thence through a tube 1'7 forming a loop 18 thence by way of tube 19 back to the switch valve 12, continues by way of tube 20 to the loop 21 thence by way of tube 22 intothe bell 23. The various pipes connected to the piston valves are not described as they are of standard construction and arrangement of a tuba, and as such do not form a part of the invention.

For the purpose of using the slide a pipe 24 is brought in communication by the switch valve with the pipe 11. The pipe 24-leads to a slide 25 whose one leg 26 reciprccates on" the outside of the pipe 24 while the other leg 2'7 reciprocates inside of a tube 28 which leads to a selector valve 29 and thence through a union 30 past the switch valve to the tube 20 and thence to the atmosphere byway of bell 23; r 1 In Fig. 2 an enlargeddetail section of valves 12 and 29. a

As shown, air from the pipe 11 escapes through the pipe '13 (if the switch valve-is not actuated). If, however, the push pin 31 is actuated and the piston 32 is shifted against the pressure of a spring 33, then a'canal 34 in the piston body 32,

is shown establishes communication between pipes 11 and 24, as stated herein before. The air having flown through the slide 25 returns by way of the pipe 28 through union 30 and pasta peripheral passage.35 which upon the'push'pin 31 being depressed permits air to escape through the pipe 20 into the bell 23.

Attention is called to the fact that the provision of a single slide for an instrument of thetype described would make it'a physical impossibility to reach all of the seven positions necessary to produce the various tones for the range required of a wind instrument. 1 i

The player would be required after the fourth position to leave his seat so as to enable him to actuate the slide to reach the fifth, sixth and seventh position.

To eliminatethis defect and annoyanca'means are provided to obtain the same results by increasing the length of the tubing of the slide and decreasing the extent to which the slide must be actuated in orderto reach the'various positions. r The selector valve 29 comprises a piston 36 pro vided with a push pin 37 and held in place by a spring 38. Now to convenientlyobtain the remaining four positions the remainder of the slide is connected to the main slide by the selector valve 29.

The air from the mouthpiece 10 flows through V 11, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and valve 29 through a hole in the valve casing to a tube 39 loop 40, tube 41, thence to an elbow 42 and another elbow 43 into the selector valve 29 thence by the union 30 to tion.

the switch valve 12 and passes through pipe 20 out to the bell 23.

The piston 36 has a passage 44 establishing communication between 30 and 43.

The push pin 31 may be locked in depressed position by a pin 45 engaging a bayonet slot 46 in the head 47 of the push pin.

The modification shown in Fig. 3 depicts a slide 48 which is used in connection with a tuba without piston valves.

In this case the length of tube 20 which is omitted by the fact that no piston valves are present is taken care of by adding to the slide 48 av coil 49.

The switch valve 12 is omitted because of the absence of the piston valves and only the selector valve 29 is used to add on the tubing 39, as and 41. The mouthpiece 10 in this case is at the end of the tube 50 which is directly connected tothe slide 48.

While the drawing shows preferred embodiments of the invention, various changes, alterations, revisions and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the inven- I, therefore, do not limit myself to the details of construction, as shown, but wish to include all changes, alterations, revisions and modifications constituting I departures within the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims:

I claim:

l. A wind instrument of the type having a mouth piece and a bell, said instrument including as a unitary part thereof two independent, manually selective, and severally usable pitch controls.

2.'A wind instrument of the type having a mouth piece and a bell, said instrument including as a unitary part thereof two wholly independent manually selective control means, for, .pitch values, either of said means being usable to valve therefor, an independent slide control there-' for, and an element for selecting either-control means to the exclusion of ,the other.

'5. A unitary wind instrument of the type including a mouth piece and a bell, two independent pitch controls for the instrument, means for selecting one of said controls to the exclusion of the other, and means for varying the length of the air passage of one of said controls.

6. The combination with a wind instrument having a valve pitch control, of a multi-coil slide forming an inherent partof the instrument, and means for causing the air to pass through the slideto the exclusion of the valve.

7, A unitary wind instrument of the type having a mouth piece and a bell, a pitch valve control for the instrument, a slide control for the instrument, and a manually operable valve for selecting either of said controls in the playing of the instrument.

8. An inherently complete unitary wind instrument having a valve pitch control, a slide control, a valve for selecting either of said controls, and means for normally holding the valve to utilize the valve-pitch control.-

9. An inherently complete unitary windinstrument having a pitch-valve control, a slide con trol, said slide being in a horizontal plane during the playing of the instrument, and a manually operable selector for causing the air to pass through the pitch valves or through the slide.

l0. An inherently complete unitary wind instrument having two wholly independent pitch controls, one of said controls being a multi-coil slide, and a switch valve for selecting the coils of the slide for the passage of the air.

11..A wind instrument'oi the type having a single mouth piece and a single bell, piston valves for pitch control, a slide for pitch control forming a permanent part of the instrument, and means for normally. maintaining the playing of the instrument under piston valve control, said means being manually operable to exclude the piston valve control and maintain the playing of the instrument under slide control.

12. A wind instrument having piston valves, a slide forming a permanent part of the instrument, a manually operable element normally set to govern the playing of the instrument'through said valves, said element being operable to govern the instrument through the slide to the ex- VINCENT FIoRINo. 

